1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a communication connector configured to communicate with an information storage device installed on a powder container where developer is contained as powder and an image forming apparatus including the communication connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile, a copier, and a multifunction peripheral having a plurality of functions of these machines typically includes a detachable device detachably mounted on a main body of an image forming apparatus (hereinafter, “image-forming apparatus body”). Examples of the detachable device include a developer container (a toner bottle, a toner container, an ink cartridge). The detachable device may include an information storage device (an information recording unit, a non-volatile memory) implemented in an IC (integrated circuit) chip or the like where various types of information is stored. Mounting the detachable device on the image-forming apparatus body brings a contact terminal included in the information storage device into contact with a terminal (body terminal) of a communication connector mounted on the image-forming apparatus body, thereby enabling to communicate between the information storage device and the communication connector possible. In this state, the communication connector reads out various types of information from the information storage device.
Japanese Patent No. 4843112 proposes a detachable device including an information storage unit which stores information communicated between an image-forming apparatus body and the detachable device, a terminal which is to be brought into contact with a body terminal mounted on the image-forming apparatus body to communicate information with the image-forming apparatus body, an information storage device including a substrate where the information storage unit and the terminal are held and a guide portion to be engaged by a body projection on the image-forming apparatus body is formed, and a holder which holds the substrate of the information storage device in a manner that, when the detachable device approaches the body terminal mounted on the image-forming apparatus body in a moving direction, allows the substrate to move on an imaginary plane intersecting the moving direction.
According to Japanese Patent No. 4843112, the substrate of the information storage device is held by the holder of the detachable device in the manner that allows the substrate to move on the imaginary plane intersecting the moving direction of the detachable device. Accordingly, during attachment of the detachable device on the image-forming apparatus body, the substrate moves with its guide portion guided by the body projection. However, if the body terminal projects out from a tapered distal end (slope) of the body projection, the body terminal can contact and be pushed by the guide portion of the substrate that moves with its guide portion guided by the body projection, possibly resulting in deformation of the body terminal. Such deformation of the body terminal can be a cause of a contact failure between the body terminal and a contact on the IC chip, and therefore can be a cause of a communication error.
Hence, there is a need for a technique which prevents deformation of a body terminal which can occur when a substrate of an information storage device moves with its guide portion guided by the body terminal, thereby attaining a stable communication state with neither contact failure nor communication error.